His father leaned back into the chair. "Honestly, fighting a Golem is not something even a five bronze star adventurer can accomplish. It would take at least two silver stars to fight it and win.
And that has put me in thought, about you, about your changes. They came unusually fast, and you grew in strength rapidly.
Noel I understand, as he has trained all his life and is a prodigy, but you, you would have to be a world-shattering prodigy to be able to pull off what you have done.
We all have our secrets, and I don’t want to pry into yours. All I hope is that you don’t dip your hands into something forbidden for the sake of power," his father said.
Riven could understand where his father was coming from. Such an exponential growth out of the blue was something to actually call into question.
"I promise, Father, I’m not doing anything forbidden," he said.
"I see. That’s fine then. I’ll allow you to rest and recover," his father said and got up.
"Wait, Father, what about the mines?" he asked.
His father turned. "Well, our barony will be taking sixty percent of the mine, and the rest belongs to the Royal Family.
They sent people to ensure that the crystals are mined safely and to ensure that everything goes smoothly. These are high-quality crystals. You and Noel have basically made our family rich," his father said and walked out of the room.
’I need to get my hands on a crystal and see what happens when I absorb it, but that’s an issue for later. For now, I need to focus on healing.’
He decided that since he couldn’t move, he would check his system. He recalled several notifications after he killed the Golem, so he wanted to see what they were about.
[You have leveled up, 4 stat points, item box]
[Sword mastery lv1 - lv2]
[Heart of the stone golem has been added to your inventory]
"I leveled up? Then this confirms it—life-threatening situations are what I need to level up. Sigh, does this system expect me to put myself in danger whenever I want to level up? I might die one day." He complained, but there was no use. The system was his only chance at actually being worth something here.
His sword mastery had also leveled up. That was one that made him actually happy.
[Sword Mastery lv2: Increases all sword-related fighting proficiency by 40 percent.]
His fighting had already increased drastically when it was level one. He was already eager to see what it would be like now at level two.
His eyes moved to this notification, the one that pulled his attention more than any other, and that was the heart of the Golem.
He checked his inventory and saw a round smooth stone there with runes written all over it.
[Heart of the stone Golem: Summon a Golem to aid you in battle. Duration depends on user’s mana capacity.]
His eyes shined as he read the contents. He would be able to summon a Golem similar to what he fought?
If anything, this heart was worth fighting that Golem for, and though he nearly died, he didn’t regret the battle at all.
He closed the system and looked around for his pouch. He found it lying on the table at the beginning of the side of the room.
"Shit," he said. He gritted his teeth and shifted himself to the edge of the bed. With every move, his body screamed in pain.
He wasn’t sure if he would be able to walk to the table, but he needed to get to the pouch. He pushed himself until his feet touched the ground. He added some weight to them, and a sharp pain shot up his legs, yet he moved on and grabbed the chair. Using it as a walker, he made his way to the table.
He picked up the pouch and headed back to the bed the same way. When he finally lay down, he let out a breath of satisfaction.
He opened the pouch, and the first thing that he pulled out was the orc crystal. It had been a few days since he killed this one, and he hadn’t used it.
He also hoped that he would get a vision from this crystal as well. He absorbed the crystal without hesitation. The same sensation as the first crystal came, and he knew that he was about to have another vision.
And just as he thought, everywhere went black. The smell of burning wood was the first thing to meet his nose. The hot embers seeped into his nostrils and burnt the back of his throat.
He opened his eyes, and the black smoke filled them, burning them as well. All he saw when he opened his eyes was red, red, red.
The scarlet flames burned high, and the blood stained what seemed to be a town, but now was rubble.
He stood, looking at this town, as orcs ran for their lives, filled with fear—women and children, old and young—running while strange creatures chased after them.
The creatures stood at seven feet tall, each wearing black full-body armors with spikes and sharp parts. It was a really over-the-top armor.
The only thing that showed from under the armor was their glowing red eyes.
They didn’t chase the orcs in a rush. They walked behind them, yet they were somehow able to catch up with them and cut them down, painting the whole place red.
Riven looked at the hand of the orc he was in. A large mace was in the hand, and he could tell from the trembling that this orc was filled with rage.
The orc suddenly charged in with fury, and right when one of those men was about to cut down a young orc, the orc blocked it with his mace, giving the boy the chance to run away. Then he looked up at the armored creature and let out a terrifying roar.